‘Super Smash Bros. Brawl’, first impressions.
Facing the analysis of a title with these characteristics is a difficult task, not for fear of being stoned by criticizing it, but for falling into the error of enlarging it too much. With only a few minutes of play at the controls of ‘Super Smash Bros. Brawl’ You already realize that you are facing something very big, one of those games in which, after years after its launch, blogs reanalyze with the intention of showing new generations where this world comes from, teaching the process of maturation of a genre from its birth and how it has become the masterpiece it is today. It could be said that ‘Super Smash Bros. Brawl’ is the next step in the evolution of fighting and beat’em up games.
that a game sells 1,576,990 copies in one week It is something that could be hidden by the fan phenomenon, but the fact that it achieves perfect or almost perfect scores in a large part of the specialized publications is something to think about. It would be strange if so many professionals who dedicate their lives to this were wrong, but despite this I am one of those skeptics who do not believe anything until they have it in front of them, and in this case I must agree with them. And I say this clearly, because I think the occasion deserves it, I won’t tell you that it is the game of the year, that it has the best graphics of this generation, or anything like that, but it has made a pleasant impression on me and I will try to explain it to you the reasons in the following article.
Most of you will have followed the development of ‘Super Smash Bros. Brawl’ so closely, that you will already know most of its features by heart even without having tried it, for those of you who find yourself in this situation I invite you to skip the introduction of this analysis, then you can read my opinions about its game modes, graphics, etc. For those of you who do not yet know what this title offers, you can learn about its main features below.
Introduction
‘Super Smash Bros. Brawl’ is a fighting title created by Nintendo. But we are not facing a normal fighting game since it does not have great combinations of buttons when it comes to making combos, we will simply use two buttons to fight, one for normal attacks and another for special ones. In addition, it will not be enough to hit our enemy until his life reaches 0, but we will have to increase a damage meter to later try to expel him from the ring.
graphics and sound
The technical section of this installment for Wii is superb. The characters, maintaining their characteristic colors, present a much more realistic aesthetic. A good example is the character of Bowser, who has received a face lift that could not suit him better (now he is a fearsome enemy); or Mario’s clothes, which have textures that Nintendo fans have been waiting for for a long time. And not only the characters have received a graphic update but also their special attacks, which look better than ever.
Shadow Moses, ‘Wario Ware’, ‘Super Mario Kart’, Green Hill… Another point in its favor is found in the scenarios, which in addition to being very varied, have an overwhelming quality both in their graphics and in their originality. It’s amazing how we can go from fighting on Hyrule Bridge, with its corresponding castle and sunset in the background; to a scenario based on the DS Pictochat. And do not think that this last one will be boring, since it counteracts its graphic simplicity with a very fun experience, in which various platforms and traps will appear, from a whale to rockets that will head towards us causing an explosion when they hit our character. And if at any time you miss the ‘Melee’ scenarios, don’t worry, because we can also unlock them to enjoy them in ‘Brawl’. Definitely if you want graphics on Wii and you’ve already finished off its best asset: ‘Super Mario Galaxy’, this is your game.
The greatness of its sound section lies above all in the variety, and I’m not talking about the quality because it’s so much that it would give for an entire article. Being able to enjoy the classic melodies, and new remixes, of the best Nintendo sagas is a delight. But in addition to that, its soundtrack will shock us with some surprises, such as the possibility of being able to listen, exclusively, to one of the songs that will appear in the installment of ‘Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots’.
gameplay
The formula for the success of ‘Super Smash Bros.’ both in the delivery for N64 and in the Gamecube ‘Melee’ resides in its multiplayer mode, but logically a game of these characteristics limits its life to games with friends. That is why Nintendo decided to increase the gaming experience with several proposals:
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An adventure mode: This is something that we could already enjoy in ‘Super Smash Bros Melee’, but that in this installment becomes a totally new game: the ‘Subspace Emissary’. In it, we will control our favorite characters while we go through various worlds in a more than successful 2D aesthetic of side scrolling in the old style, while we will fight with various enemies and even some final bosses, which unfortunately we will not be able to use in other modes. The added value of this mode will be, in addition to being able to get the hidden characters more easily, the possibility of being able to appreciate some CGI scenes that will make more than one regular player smile.
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brawl: The quintessential game mode in which we can battle against the machine or against 4 friends. Frantic battles that will awaken our most competitive spirit and that, together with the objects and help characters that appear during the course of the fight, will steal the occasional laugh. Although the loudest laugh will appear once we can destroy one of the new Smash Ballsobjects that will float from time to time on the screen, and that will give us the possibility of carrying out a special fatality that in most cases will kill our enemy just by touching it.
And if this isn’t enough for you, and you’ve just had enough of beating your little brother (who just throws lightning bolts with his Pikachu in every game), welcome to the world On-line. If the sprints in Online to Mario Kart of DS were already memorable, imagine what a 4 against 4 in Online should be like… What does Spain lose against Italy? Well, no problem because you can always get even by throwing an “improvised” game on an Italian, as you can see in this video:
The control of the game will be divided into 4 possibilities: the wiimando in a horizontal position, the combination of wiimando and nunchaku, the traditional controller used for the virtual console and the Gamecube controller (the best option by far). It is not because the other combinations are worse, but considering that the movement of the wiimando is not essential, the Gamecube option is much more comfortable.
Let’s add to all this the possibility of holding tournaments, participating in events, which will offer us various challenges such as defeating an enemy with a time or life limit; overcome some mini-games like destroying targets or playing baseball, create our own scenarios with a complete editor or achieve the hidden challenges that the game presents us with such as collecting trophies and even completing our own sticker album. In case all this seems little to you, add the possibility of enjoying classic virtual console games for a limited time, a good way to learn about the origins of the characters that appear in the game and, on the other hand, boost sales of the full versions on the internet channel.
All this without forgetting that if you hate Mario you can use Sonic to beat up Nintendo’s plumber, or embody Zelda to fight Link, and what do you think of a battle between Snake and Samus? Without a doubt, one of the characteristics that sustains the success of this saga is the variety of its characters, something that I think all fighting games should start implementing. Being able to use such a variety of characters gives a useful life to the game that many of us appreciate. Let’s not fool ourselves, fighting with Ryu and Dhalsim over and over again ends up becoming something leaden, which is why I value these contributions very much. If you also think the same as me, I recommend you play ‘Marvel vs Capcom 2’, which was with the game where I enjoyed for the first time the option of being able to choose between a wide variety of characters and if it is not your case, you will always have to wait for the new ‘Street Fighter IV’.
In conclusion, an essential in the Nintendo catalog and in that of any self-respecting player. You may like Wii more or less, you may be “Seguero” or a Sony fan, but what is clear is that ‘Super Smash Bros. Brawl’ will make you have a great time. So, if you prefer a 360 or a PS3 to a Wii, you’re within your rights, but look for a friend who does have one and get addicted to this game, I assure you that you won’t regret it. I leave you with the presentation of the Japanese version:
Video | Youtube Video | Gametrailers In SamaGame ‘Super Smash Bros. Brawl’ delayed in Europe until the third quarter of the year What ‘Super Smash Bros. Brawl’ lacked: a scenario creator ‘Super Smash Bros. Brawl’ will include console game demos virtual
